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Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Paleo Transformation

Have you heard about the Paleo diet and were curious about how to get started? Or maybe you’ve been trying Paleo for a while but have questions or aren’t sure what the right exercise program is for you? Or maybe you just want a 30-day meal plan and shopping list to make things easier? Then Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Paleo Transformation is for you.

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All this talk about lectins and phytates in legumes, nuts and vegetables like Spinach and Swiss chard, and oh, just cook/soak/etc and they’re safe. Well all the same groups of foods (and dark chocolate and some berries) happen to also be very high in oxalates, which do _not_ get destroyed or cleared by cooking/soaking/etc. High oxalate content affect a lot more people that gluten does (wheat also is very high in oxalates), it should be a lot more significant for Paleo-eating people. This wasn’t discussed. Personally I have been eating Paleo for over four years now, and recently (last year or so) I “relaxed” thinking hey, Potatoes are A-Ok, Legumes are A-Ok, what with resistant starch and stuff, this on top of frequently eating spinach, berries, nuts, and dark chocolate, then BAM! Calcium oxalate kidney stones. If anyone listening came to Paleo from leaky-gut issues, used to eat a lot of wheat, etc. it could be quite likely you will also have issues if eating a high-oxalate diet, especially if your levels of Ca-K-Mg are just “adequate” or less, and/or you don’t give fluid intake the proper priority.

I watched the Dr. Oz piece. I understand that within the Oz format (ie., “Health and Nutrition for Dummies”), it’s very difficult to explain the Paleo Diet concept. But it was a surprisingly good segment. Mehmet was enthusiastic. Kresser and Stephenson were good-looking, glowingly-healthy presenters of their versions of “cheat” Paleo. Both diets are magnitudes better than the Standard American Diet.

But here’s the problem: If I had started with either of their “personalized” paleo diets as presented on the show, I would not have experienced the dramatic health benefits of Robb’s Paleo Solution version.

I did the strict elimination diet for 30 days. On the 31st day the first thing I added back was my beloved dairy, because I couldn’t POSSIBLY be sensitive to dairy. In quick order exercise-induced asthma was back. Nasal allergies, back. Five days later, eczema, back. I felt bad. It was revelatory. When I re-introduced beans (black bean frijoles on my taco salad, a cup of my sister’s kidney bean chili) my GERD and IBS came back, with a vengeance.

The opportunity to expose significant food sensitivities is what’s lost in these “relaxed” Paleo plans. You’ll lose weight on Kresser’s and Stephenson’s diets, and maybe that’s enough for most people. But I (and likely many others) would still struggle with malaise and the false belief that dairy and legumes are well tolerated. In short order, I would abandon their diets (just as I abandoned the Zone and vegetarianism) because they didn’t make me feel good.

Just to clarify, Kresser does recommend a strict paleo diet for 30 days at first, and then reintroducing other foods one at a time if you want to to see if they’re problematic for you or not. He didn’t get to express that on the show, but those are the recommendations in his material, programs, book, etc.

What about saponins? Cordain brought up saponins and some other issues with legumes beyond just lectins and phytates. The article mentions that saponins can not be eliminated from cooking beans. The potential negative health issues from saponins seem to be very similar to those that can be caused by lectins with the difference being that you can’t get rid of the saponins. Would like to hear what you guys think about saponins. Thanks for a good podcast episode. I like the term “orthodox paleo.”

ROBB WOLF, author of The Paleo Solution, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.